Philippians L.3

The Humility of Christ

Hello Imprint! I hope that you all are doing well! Exam season is over, and we are in our next semester… How are we feeling about that?

Well if you are new here, we want to make sure you feel welcomed and at home here at imprint… If you have not met me or your other leaders yet, we would love to get to know you.

If you have been attending any of the recent youth nights you know that we are in full swing working through our study in the book of Philippians! And you know what time it is… Its recap time…

Who remembers who wrote the letter/book of Philippians?

Who remembers where Paul was when he wrote it?

Who remembers the two big concepts we talked about in last weeks passage?(Unity / persecution)

Who is going to win on Sunday, Chiefs or Niners?

Why don’t we open up the word and dig into this next passage right away. Open up your bibles to Philippians 2 starting in verse 1. I am going to read out of NIV today specifically because I think it makes the passage more understandable…

Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, 2 then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. 3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, 4 not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others

This passage is picking up right where we left off with the last passage, so we remember last week we saw how Paul was expressing the importance of Unity among the believers. He continues that here by saying: If there is any unity… if you are unified at all, the make my joy complete by being like minded…. having the same love…one in spirit and one in mind.

Because only through unity are the goals of the church completed.

So the questions might come into your mind… how are we supposed to achieve this unity… Cause you might be thinking, man… I love Bobby, but there are some things that I just can’t stand. Or, yeah Josiah is a Christian, but I just kinda get ticked off around him. Or, Its just kinda awkward being around this person…

Here is what Paul tells us on how to achieve unity… In verse 3…

 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, 4 not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others

We need to be humble. We need to run away from the mindset that it is all about me… Even if its subconscious, we all struggle with this!

We need to identify the times that we are thinking only about how people or situations are making me feel… whats good for me… whats in my interest.

And start valuing others more than ourselves. Start looking at the interests of others.

Because Unity is contingent on humility — — (repeat)

Listen, if you are in some sort of beef with a brother or sister in Christ. And you are creating disunity… a disruption in the group… Then you are being selfish.

It doesn’t matter who is at fault in the issue. If you are the one holding to a grudge… or causing unreasonable distance, you need to be thinking… How can I make this right?…How am I effecting this other person? Am I being gracious and forgiving, as Christ has forgiven me?

Unity is contingent on humility.

So what really is humility? We talked about how its valuing others above yourself? But isn’t humility just not being arrogant?

Sometimes we have an idea that Humility means to think less of yourself… to stray away from pride so far that we think of ourselves just as a piece of garbage…However, that is not at all what I am saying. There is a phrase that goes — —

Humility is not thinking less of yourself but thinking of yourself less.

Think of ourselves less often, and instead think of others and their needs.

Okay we need to keep moving…Lets read the next few verses. Buckle up for this because these are some of the most beautiful verses in the Bible.

Starting in verse 5, read in your head with me.

5 In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: 6 Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; 7 rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross! 9 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Wow. This passage never ceases to blow we away, and I am 100% serious about that. It blows my mind.

Okay first off I want to acknowledge — V.6 says that Jesus, who being in very nature God.—

This is telling us that Jesus IS God. Do we get that? we haven’t talked much about the trinity this year so far… But do we get that Jesus IS God? Super important concept.

Paul says be like Christ in this way: Although Christ was seated over everyone and everything in heaven. And had this position of infinite power and glory, in order so that we could be saved from our sin… …Christ came down from heaven, to be born as a helpless human baby. Isn't that crazy?

Think about that for a minute. Christ in his infinite power… Decided that the best thing for Him to do was to make himself into the most weak, helpless form of humanity. Not born into royalty even, but in a barn. into a troph where pigs ate from.

You want an example of Humility? This is the ultimate example.

And you know what, His humility did not end there, Jesus, after taking on the form of the puny, weak man. Lived a perfect, sinless life, only to knowingly and willingly die a torturous death. And why did He do that? Was He thinking about Himself? No. He did it for us…. for the sinner.…

Now we know that we are not God. But do you see how we should be acting? There is a good chance that we need to disregard if something is going to hurt us, if the result will be better for the unity and health of the church.

Lets read 9-11 again.

Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father

But. Because of Jesus’ sacrifice, He was exalted above everyone and everything that has ever been exalted before.

And so that eventually every single knee shall bow on heaven, on earth and under the earth. and every single tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.

WOW. This is wild. Every person that has ever existed will proclaim that Christ is Lord? Yes. Let me explain to you what the end of the days are going to look like.

Did you know that Jesus is coming back to earth? Did you know that He promised not to be gone forever? This is the day that this verse is talking about. The day that Christ comes back to earth is the day that every knee will bow and tongue confess.

This means that those who know Christ and follow Him will say, yes! Jesus Christ is Lord and I praise him. They will spend eternity with God in heaven. And everyone who rejects God will also recognize, yes… Jesus Christ is Lord and I hate that and I hate him… These people will spend eternity separated from God.

This is the reality that will happen some day and we don’t know when. But don’t we want to be on the winning side? Don’t we want to be on the side that joyfully acknowledges Jesus as king? And don’t you want everyone you love to be there too?

This is our responsibility as a church, as a youth group. First we need to be united in Christ. like we learned last week… First we need to believe the Gospel and let that be our foundation, so despite any other differences that we do have … We are united with the Gospel.

THEN we need to go into our schools, our families, our workplaces and we need to share this message of the Gospel to everyone so that they can know the truth and be saved too! You know that one of if not the most selfish thing you can do, is know the truth that sets you free… and keep it to yourself… being too worried about our social standing to share the Gospel.

If you are sitting here today and you have not accepted or acknowledged that Jesus Christ is Lord of your life. And you’re curious about making that decision… But you don’t know how or you don’t know where to start…Please come talk to one of your leaders, thats what we are here for! Even if you’re not ready to make that decision right now, we would love to just talk you through how you may be feeling.

I promise you guys, whoever has not made that decision that Jesus is Lord and saviour of the world, you need to consider this and you need to decide! Whether or not this Jesus guy is God, or if He isn’t. It is the most important decision you will ever make in your entire life and its not close.

Small Group Questions

Any initial thoughts?

How do we see the culture around us promoting a self-centred worldview?

What do you think it means to do nothing from selfish ambition? — — Is this an easy thing or hard thing for you?

How could holding grudges effect the health of a unified group?

How can we start to live humbly, counting others more significant than ourselves? — —How does sharing the Gospel fit into this?

Why is it a big deal that Jesus came to the earth as a baby? —— How should this model how we life our lives?